A Forum for Orthodox Jewish thought on Halacha, Hashkafa, and the social issues of our time.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel?

There seems to be a quiet revolution taking place among Israel's Charedim. Has the pendulum begun to swing back to normalcy? Only time will tell
if this new phenomenon will change the current paradigm

Those who read this blog regularly know my view on this
subject.

The very idea that one should opt for a job instead of
learning full time has been anathema in the Charedi world. The thrust of
Charedi education in Israel (and increasingly in some of the more right wing
segments of American Charedi society) is that Learning Torah full time is an
imperative. To that end their educational system indoctrinates each student to place
value only on Torah subjects. Anything else has been considered a waste of time
at best and forbidden at worst.

So aside from some basic math Charedim learn in elementary
school there are no other secular subjects taught. High school consists
literally of Torah only, mostly in the form of Gemarah and Meforshim. Post high
school that trend continues and intensifies. There is no preparation at all for
the workplace anywhere along the line in any way. Nothing. Zero. Nada.

Exacerbated by refusal to serve in the armed forces – from
which they are exempted by law - the result is that this relatively intelligent
and capable group of people has the highest poverty rate in Israel. A
staggering 59% of Charedim live below the poverty line.

What makes this statistic
even more amazing is the obvious fact that they are poor by choice. Although I
question whether they really do have a choice since they are indoctrinated to see
working people as second class citizens. The psychological pressure to remain in the Beis HaMedrash
full time for as long as possible from the Charedi rabbinic leadership, and the
peer pressure that accompanies it makes opting for the
workplace very difficult for them even after spending many years in a Kollel.

I have always advocated a paradigm change. I have
applauded efforts by the Israeli government to introduce minimal secular
studies into the Charedi educational system – futile though hey may have been. Rabbinic leaders had always stridently rejected
those efforts seeing them as insidious “anti Torah” efforts to undermine
Judaism itself.

To be fair, some Rabbanim in Charedi establishment in Israel
have quietly been encouraging “full timers” indicating an interest in joining the workforce- to get the training
needed to get those jobs. Although it seeem like it has only been done a case by case basis, the paradigm of learning
full time at all costs seems to be shifting a bit.

To that end Charedi rabbinic
leaders (like R’ Aharon Leib Steinman) have supported new Charedi oriented programs like the (now defunct) Tal Law and Nachal Charedi.
Programs have been developed specifically for army service and to train Charedim for the
current job market. While this change is still in its infancy it seems to be
taking root. An article in The Times of Israel has made an observation that is illustrative
of that fact:

Employment among
haredi men rose from 33% in 2002 to 42% in 2010, and is expected to continue
rising. Among women, too, employment rose from 48% to 55% in the same period.

This rise in employment
was accompanied by a steep rise in unemployment (measured by) those who are looking
for work… The demand for jobs among haredi men grew even faster than the
increasing number who found jobs in an expanding job market. More haredim now
work, and more want to work, than at any time in the recent past. (And) more
haredim are turning to higher education than ever before.

In recent years,
three publicly-funded and several private institutions of higher education have
opened in Israel that are run by haredim for haredim, including the Haredi
College of Jerusalem, the Bnei Brak Haredi College and others.

Where just a few
hundred haredi students attended Israel’s colleges and universities a decade
ago, today some 6,000 are enrolled in recognized institutions of higher
learning. More than 1,100 are studying to become engineers. Studies (have) found
that almost 74% of haredim are interested in non-religious higher education.

If these figures are accurate, this is a very encouraging
sign. That said I believe that we still have a long way to go. As I keep saying
- it would help tremendously if the Charedi establishment would adopt the
American Charedi model of injecting some basic secular studies into their high
schools. Although that paradigm is in fact eroding in America as new Yeshivos seem
to be popping up that have eliminated secular studies, the majority of mainstream
Charedi high schools in America still offer a secular studies program –
including Telshe, and Lakewood affiliated ‘Philly’.

Unfortunately I don’t see that kind of paradigm shift happening
in Israel. Nonetheless this new trend is an encouraging sign.

A fringe benefit of this new phenomenon pointed out in this article
is that the isolationist populations like Meah Shearim and Ramat Bet Shemesh B are
becoming marginalized. And as suggested: “haredi extremists are becoming violent precisely because they are losing their
battle against modernity”.

They are fighting back via their extremists - trying to
maintain their isolationist way of life. While these populations are not of the
“learning full time or bust’ mentality and actually do encourage working, they
do not encourage getting educated for it, thus leaving their members unable to
compete for better, higher paying jobs. Except for the entrepreneurs among
them, my guess is their poverty level will continue at about the same rate – or
increase as their numbers increase.

Is their stridency the ‘storm before the calm’? I hope so. If there is to be any real chance of that it would be helpful if the mainstream
Charedim stopped defending their values as they reject their extremists. It is bad
enough that their own members defend their extremists even if they do not themselves
participate in it. That mainstream Charedim defend the motives of these extremists
as well is not helpful.

I believe that these isolationist communities are
intransigent. They will never waver from their isolationist approach to
Judaism. The will never as a group opt for higher education of any kind that
will help them improve their incomes – even as mainstream Charedi population
begins to thaw out of that mentality and out of poverty.

What does the future hold? What will the overall Charedi
world in Israel look like a few years from now? I don’t know. The Edah HaCharedis / Meah Shearim crowd will
continue to increase in size by virtue of their high birth rate. But at least
for the current mainstream Charedi population – there does seem to be light at
the end of the tunnel.

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About Me

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelor's Degree - majoring in Psychology.